Woz thinks Apple should pay 50 percent tax

Wozniak started Apple with Steve Jobs in 1976, and was the chief developer of the hugely influential Apple I and Apple II computers.

He left the company back in the mid-1980s, but has been outspoken about its products and performance – for good and for bad – ever since.

Speaking to the BBC at the Business Rocks technology conference in Manchester recently, Wozniak had his say on the whole Apple tax affair.

After revealing that “Steve Jobs started Apple for money” while he himself “had no interest in personal money,” Wozniak was asked about the furore that surrounded Apple’s cosy tax agreement with the Republic of Ireland in recent years.

“I don’t like the idea that Apple might be unfair – not being taxed the way I do as a person,” he said

Having revealed that he himself paid “over 50 percent” of everything he earned in tax, Wozniak was asked if he believed Apple should pay that same rate.

Given that Apple has built up overseas cash reserves of around $200 billion (£1.39 billion), that would be some payment if enforced.

“On the other hand,” Wozniak conceded in defence of his old company, “I look back any company that is a public company, its shareholders are going to force it to be as profitable as possible and that means financial people studying all the laws of the world and figuring out all the schemes that work that are technically legal. They’re technically legal and it bothers me and I would not live my life that way.”